Thursday, July 18, 2013

Steve Spurrier opines on Notre Dame, player stipends, They saved the best for last. The final coach to step up to the podium on the first day of Southeastern Conference media days Tuesday was South Carolina's Steve Spurrier, and he came with an agenda.

Spurrier gave the news media insight into a conversation all 14 SEC football coaches had during meetings in May in Destin, Fla. He described a scene in which they were chatting with Bowl Championship Series executive director Bill Hancock, talking about the four-team playoff and how it was going to work out.

Per Spurrier, Hancock said details were being discussed among BCS conference commissioners and Notre Dame's athletics director.

Jack Swarbrick's name gave the coaches pause. Somebody said, 'Why should he be there?'" Spurrier said. "He's equal with the commissioners. Nobody had a good answer except that's the way it's always been done."

The SEC coaches took it upon themselves and decided what needed to happen to Notre Dame — it should go to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

"We all voted 14-0 they ought to be in a conference," Spurrier said, grinning.

Acting as the conference representative, Spurrier brought up a proposal the 14 SEC coaches would like to set in motion. They want their college football and basketball players to receive expense money.

The suggested amount was "about $300 a game, and basketball would be a little less," he said. Over the course of the year, players would receive between $3,600 and $3,900, depending on how many games were played.

This, of course, is currently against NCAA rules."This is tiny compared to the money that's coming in now," Spurrier said.

"I'm going to keep fighting for our guys. If President Obama would say, 'Spurrier, you and those coaches need to quit fighting for your players,' that they get enough, then I'll shut up about it."

Earlier in the day, Florida coach Will Muschamp took a jab at Urban Meyer and Ohio State, which turned in the Gators for an alleged secondary recruiting violation. Spurrier was asked if he would ever turn in Florida for a secondary violation. After a long pause, he said he wouldn't turn in his alma mater and former coaching stop.

He then was asked about attending his recent 50th high school reunion in Johnson City, Tenn.

"It was sort of quiet," he said. "I thought it would be louder. I looked around at 9:30, half of them had already left. I said, 'Where did everybody go?'"